Wise as a Serpent...

By Sue Chess

      Executive Director

Have you ever wondered what made the serpent “the most cunning animal that the LORD God had made”?  (Gen. 3:1)  The word “cunning” has some very descriptive meanings; crafty, knowing, manipulative, shrewd, astute, clever, canny, sharp, resourceful.  So, when Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 10:16 to “Listen carefully: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves [have no self-serving agenda, AMP]—what is He REALLY saying to us?

 

The wisdom buried in that scripture was driven home to me recently in considering the power of questions.  This an incredible tool in any counseling situation or even home and business relationships. 

Some of us find questions very easy.  We may have a natural “need to know”, an emotional intelligence or intuitiveness that puts just the right question on the tip of our tongue.  But this is not true of everyone.  Sometimes even when we think of a question to ask it is closed-ended allowing “yes” or “no” answers that get us about a half inch beyond where we started.

My husband and I enjoy our eight grandchildren immensely.  Some tell us more than we really want to know, the veritable chatterboxes, but one in particular, stuffs his emotions tighter than a ripe tomato.  The concrete thinking of a child means he may have everything jumbled in his thinking.  How to get him talking and bring in solid reasoning?  Yesterday a question and answer session about his “editing skills” on YouTube opened the lines of communication.  Something I have no interest in but he loves.  To become “cunning” or “knowing” about him it was important for me to ask questions that he enjoyed answering.  I was genuinely impressed and let him know that, which opened the door to more conversations.

For this precious grandson as well as our clients at Care Net, questions can help them arrive at a conclusion of wisdom. It is a skill worth developing and the pathway to do so begins with being wise as a serpent but as innocent i.e. not self-serving, as a dove.   Most of us don’t ask enough questions, nor do we word them in the best possible way.  It is honestly a skill that is fading away in today’s online abbreviated communication.

In his 1963 classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie advised wisely that we “ask questions the other person will enjoy answering.”  When Matthew 10:16 tells us to listen carefully it means to gather “knowing” or become cunning about the person you are listening to.   All with the gentle intent of a dove.  The number one statement our clients tell us here at Care Net is that “we cared about them.”  That statement tells us that they are being listened to carefully.

Just this month, to name a few, we listened to the wife share that she’s afraid to tell her husband about the abortion in her background.  We listened and confronted the young man using Plan B as birth control for his younger girlfriend.  We listened and comforted the mother whose young daughter is pregnant.  We listened and instructed the “too-young-to-be-a-mom” girl who is raising her daughter earlier than she should have.  We listened and encouraged a mother dealing with mental illness that she can do the next right thing—even when it is hard.

What an incredible honor it is to be “wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove” in this crooked and perverse generation!

Blessings of an Interrupted Life!

By  Traci Bolden

       Center Director, Stuart

How many times have we been frustrated because our day didn’t quite play out as planned?  Maybe we were inconvenienced in some way or something unexpected happened that was just really bad timing.  These interruptions can serve as perfectly timed wake up calls to refocus our attention back on what is eternal and off what is temporary.

Some days God, who is sovereign, has quite the sense of humor and gently reminds us that He is in charge of our future.  Instead of frustration, our response should be one of joy where we embrace these interruptions as loving gifts from a loving Father.

There are many examples in scripture of God interrupting people’s lives.  

• David, a young shepherd boy, had his life interrupted when he was anointed by God to be the king of Israel.  Despite David’s downfall, God had a plan.
• Saul, whose name was later changed to Paul, was walking along one day on the road to Damascus when God interrupted his life.  Now we have most of the New Testament.  God had a plan.
• Mary, a young teenage girl, was going about her normal day when God interrupted her life. She found favor with God and was chosen to carry the Son of Man.  God had a plan.

We are grateful that these Bible heroes, who were chosen by the Lord to fulfill HIS plan and purpose for their lives, did not reject the call of God.  I wonder how often we are too busy to recognize God’s invitation to experience Him.

Every day before each shift at Care Net, we make prayer a priority.  We come together as a staff along with our volunteers and pray over each client that is scheduled.  We ask God to begin to work in their hearts before they even enter our doors.  We pray for each other because we understand the battle that takes place within these walls. Satan hates what we do and in order to prepare for war, we have to be fully armed and ready to intervene on behalf of others.  With expectancy, we ask God to interrupt our day however He sees fit.

God’s interruptions are often times clear invitations to something more significant.  Isaiah 55:8 tells us that “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.  “Andy my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." God is inviting us to see Him all around us, in the lives of others, in our ordinary daily conversations, in our serving those in need.  Interruption is not simply a matter of the heart enduring or developing patience.  It is about experiencing true life in Christ.  It is one of God’s ways of allowing us to see that there is more to be done than our self-appointed tasks for the day.

When a young woman or couple comes into one of our Centers because they find themselves facing an unplanned pregnancy, we are thankful for the opportunity to serve them and offer them an

invitation to something significant.  They may view their pregnancy as an inconvenience or just really bad timing, but with the Holy Spirit’s leading, we get to talk with them about how God interrupts our lives with all kinds of wonderful.  God assures us in Ephesians 3:20 that "He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us."

How did you respond the last time God interrupted your day? Have you thanked Him for saving you from your plans?  We may never know this side of Heaven all that God has done and is doing in our lives.  Such are the blessings of an interrupted life!